Of the sixty or so "must-have" apps that are installed on my Samsung Galaxy Note 3, there's only one that I need to use and hate with a passion. Skype. Whenever using it, I'm consumed by dropped calls, mic issues, poor quality, and random crashes, among other things—and I'm not the only one.
Although lacking in megapixels, the HTC One M8's camera can be considered a top-tier, flagship-level shooter. With the Duo Camera and UltraPixel technology behind it, it can make even the most inexperienced photographer snap pictures like a pro. There seems to be little missing for the average user, but for the more seasoned photographers, some of the standard settings may seem a bit too dumbed down.
Recipes are invaluable to cooks who are just starting out, but what if you want to get to the next level? Then it's time you learn how to apply simple math to food. In other words, learn how to cook using ratios, not recipes.
Last week marked the announcement of LG's new G3 smartphone, and with it came a ton of new features and improvements to their Optimus UI. While most manufacturers put little effort into their keyboards—probably due to the attraction of third-party alternatives—LG has made their latest iteration one of the best OEM keyboards I have ever used.
It started in Australia, and now seems to have made its way statewide—hackers are remotely locking iOS and Mac devices, holding them for a $100 ransom. Users awoke to the loud "lost iPhone" ringtone, with a message on their lock screen stating that "Oleg Pliss" has hacked their device, and that "they" will unlock it after being sent $100 through PayPal.
Amongst the trove of high-end features on the Galaxy S5, the display may be the most impressive. Sporting a 5.1-inch Full HD Super AMOLED (Samsung's version of OLED) display with 1920 x 1080 resolution and 432 pixels per inch, Samsung's flagship has one of the best smartphone screens currently on the market.
The way you use your camera just got a bit more interesting. Phogy, a brand new camera app for Android, allows you to capture pictures with a 3D effect that comes alive when shifting your phone from side to side.
Smartphone manufacturers strive to craft the most powerful cameras they can, but are limited to using hardware that will conform to small form factors. In most cases, the cameras end up fairly underwhelming, unless we're talking about the 41-megapixel shooter in the Nokia Lumia.
By this point, you've definitely come across an app or two that wasn't designed with the HTC One in mind. Either the resolution is too small, the status bar stays active when it shouldn't, or the font isn't the ideal size. There are ways out there to get that changed, but up until now it wouldn't just change one app—it would change all of them.
Photo mosaics have interested me since I was a kid. I could never understand how someone took the time and effort to make one large masterpiece out of hundreds of smaller images. Maybe I'm too daft to grasp the concept, but it seems extremely difficult. I certainly don't have the necessary skills to make my own work of art, but luckily my Nexus 7 does.
Last week, we covered a new, open-source live wallpaper (LWP) called Muzei, and less than a week later we have no less than twenty beautiful add-on extensions to the app.
So, you've got a brand new PlayStation 4, but unfortunately, you've got "No Signal" now, too. You can't really game or watch movies on your new toy if you can't even bring up the PlayStation menu on your TV screen.
Screenshots are great, but sometimes they don't tell the whole story. You can show off that new app you got or that awesome new live wallpaper, but a screenshot isn't going to get the point across. What exactly am I trying to show you in the screenshot above? You probably have no idea, and that's the point. You can't see the action I'm trying to demonstrate, but in a video you can.
Many of the iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro, and 15 Pro Max features were carried over from last year's models. Still, quite a few capabilities are exclusive to the 2023 lineup, and some may be worth the upgrade.
A good endoscope camera can be an incredible tool for a variety of jobs. Whether you have to look under something heavy before you move it, look down a pipe before you clean it, or just give yourself extendable, bendable vision, an endoscope camera can be a fantastic tool when it works.
Between all the streaming services you have to contend with, it's hard to want to go through the trouble of plugging in an adapter and loading up a DVD when you could find another movie without needing to move.
For a long time, digital creators have had to make do with clumsy mice that don't capture the minute movements they need to do their best work. Unless you were willing to spend potentially over $600 for a drawing tablet with a high-resolution screen, you were stuck with a mouse. Creators who work with audio or video were just out of luck, period.
If you have a limited mobile data plan on your iPhone, you know how tricky it can be to stay within your given allotment. Large app installs and updates, 4K resolution videos, and photo backups can waste precious data resources in no time. And apps like Apple News, Facebook, Mail, and Netflix eat data like it's candy. But you can nip the problem in the bud by restricting data hogs from your cellular network.
It's OK to want an extended break when you're working or learning from home. Maybe you want to play a video game, spend more time with your family, hang out with your dog, or FaceTime with friends. But how can you do that when you're supposed to be in a Zoom video conference or class? Thanks to one Zoom feature on your iPhone, it may be easier than you think.
Mobile gaming has exploded, with roughly $70 billion in revenue in 2019. This gave rise to the so-called gaming phone, headlined by names like Razer and ASUS. While the Galaxy S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra are being marketed as everyman devices, make no mistake — these are unstoppable mobile gaming machines.
Are you here yet? When will you arrive? How long until you get here? How far are you? Hurry up! When you're meeting up with someone or a group of people, you may get flooded with messages like that. Instead of trying to answer them mid-trip, you can send them your status from Apple Maps, so they know precisely when you'll arrive, and they'll even get updates if traffic is holding you back.
Apple Maps has had a rocky history since its introduction, which included limited features and questionable data, earning it a reputation as a lesser alternative to Google Maps. Since then, Apple has worked to close the gap, and in iOS 13, they're introducing Collections, which allow you to create groups of locations on your iPhone that you can then quickly access and share with others.
For the first time in a while, the battle between Samsung and Apple is really interesting. Unlike previous years where the choice for smaller hands was limited to the Galaxy S series, this year, there's an option for Galaxy Note users. Both sides of the aisle have their best options in years with minimal sacrifices.
Every fall, we can expect a few things: leaves changing colors, cooler temperatures, and Samsung and Apple releasing new phones that fanboys and fangirls will argue about until the following year. This year, Samsung is mixing it up, releasing two phones in the Galaxy Note series. Let's see how the larger phones compare.
With the new navigation gestures in Android 10, you reclaim a lot of screen real estate that used to be occupied by the back, home, and recent apps buttons. But there's still a small bar on the bottom edge of the screen, and in most apps, it still sits atop a black background. Thankfully, an easy hack will give you true full-screen without breaking the new gestures.
If cameras are a priority, one of the first specs to check on a new phone is the image stabilization. You've probably been told optical image stabilization (OIS) reigns supreme, but this isn't the case if you're taking a lot of videos. Instead, we would argue, electronic image stabilization (EIS) actually works better for video.
Filmic Pro has a superb suite of professional settings — bit rate, frame rate, and mic choice, to name a few — which can enable you to capture the best footage possible. But different shots require different setups, and it can be frustrating to change settings on the fly. Filmic Pro lets you skip that whole process by saving your favorite settings as presets for quick and easy access.
When shooting video on your phone, you have two cameras at your disposal, the rear camera and the selfie camera, and you can switch freely between the two. As for microphones, you may have more than one but, unlike with the cameras, it's not easy to switch between them. Filmic Pro solves this problem by isolating the mics so you can choose the best option for the audio track.
NetBIOS is a service that allows for communication over a network and is often used to join a domain and legacy applications. It is an older technology but still used in some environments today. Since it is an unsecured protocol, it can often be a good starting point when attacking a network. Scanning for NetBIOS shares with NBTScan and the Nmap Scripting Engine is a good way to begin.
Now that we've officially seen the HoloLens 2 and Microsoft has shown off the improvements and new superpowers of the augmented reality headset, what about the specs?
Every step in the evolution of computing brings an in-kind leap forward in user input technology. The personal computer had the mouse, touchscreens made smartphones mainstream consumer devices, and AR headsets like the HoloLens and the Magic Leap One have leveraged gesture recognition.
Some websites block image downloads on their webpages so you can't save them for reuse. That means long-pressing or force-pressing on protected images in Safari on your iPhone will not do anything or will omit the "Save Image" option. Taking a screenshot is the obvious solution to bypass restrictions, but you won't get the best quality. Thankfully, there's another way.
When Google finally gave us a dark theme for YouTube, it was a bit disappointing. They didn't use a pure black background, reducing some of the battery savings you'd get with an OLED panel. But with the help of another app, we can fix this, and not only get a real dark mode, but other colors as well.
The emerging narrative as CES begins is that consumer-grade smartglasses require a heavy compromise in functionality in order to arrive at a form factor and price point that appeal to mainstream customers.
Imagine this: you have your finger poised to take the perfect picture — a once in a lifetime opportunity, like a solar eclipse — and you are suddenly caught off guard by a buzz, then "ding!" You look down at your phone to find your perfect pic ruined by distortion from the vibration, all because of an ill-timed notification. It's enough to make you crazy, especially when you find out it could have been prevented.
Last year, Razer kicked off a new trend by building a smartphone from the ground up with mobile gamers in mind. At the time, many thought the Razer Phone solved a problem that no one really had — but a year later, we're starting to see that gaming phones are perfect for more than just Fortnite players.
There's never been a better time for streaming videos on your phone. With so many options available (including a potential mobile-only Netflix tier) and so many new smartphones having large screens, there's a good chance you know someone who mainly use their phone for videos. And if you looking for a gift for them, there are some great options.
Despite Huawei's ongoing battle with the US government, the Chinese company has continued to release phones in the US under its Honor brand. The Honor X series has been consistently released for several years, offering midrange specs at ridiculously low pricing, and the Honor 8X is no exception.
The first few minutes after gaining access to a MacBook are critical — but where do we begin? Using tools built into macOS, we can develop an in-depth understanding of running background processes, detect antivirus software, locate sensitive files, and fingerprint other devices on the network. All of this can be done without installing additional software or modifying any files.
Fortnite's long awaited arrival on Android has ramped up excitement among gamers who are installing the beta version in astounding numbers. With so many midrange and budget devices running Android, however, it's important to stay on top of your device's performance to ensure smooth and uninterrupted gameplay.
